liamsaunt

Hake baked with white wine and scallions, summer squash puree, and oven fries made from Japanese yams

Monday night: a big shared platter of linguini with cherry tomatoes, olives, basil and haddock

I am back from vacation with one last Purple Carrot TB12 box to post. I have cancelled the service for at least the next six weeks as all of the local tomatoes, corn and so on are finally coming in to the farmer's markets. I may end up cancelling the service entirely, have not decided yet. Tonight's recipe was for a summer squash-pea-lemon risotto with minted ricotta. Fairly straightforward. The recipe called for a half rice-half lentil mix, but I saved the lentils and went with all rice (I had arborio on hand). I swapped out the powdered vegetable dust you were supposed to use for broth for frozen homemade chicken stock, added white wine (a no no in Tom Brady's world I guess) and used regular butter instead of the included vegan butter. I topped it with Faroe Island salmon from my fish share. The risotto was really good, albeit not really the recipe that was sent.

Last installment for this trip. We got home at 2AM Sunday. Lunch at Banana Deck. My niece's mozzarella sticks Conch fritters Spicy mahi mahi wrap My niece's chicken tenders My nephew's burger Blackened mahi sandwich Caesar salad with blackened chicken Final meal at Caneel Bay. Drinks Conch fritters Caribbean Cobb salad (additions of mango and black beans) French dip Mahi mahi and papaya tacos Guava chicken wings My nephew's burger Winner of battle conch fritter: it was a close one. High Tide had a great sauce, but the fritters were slightly undercooked. Shipwreck Landing's were tasty and had lots of conch but lost points for being served with boring cocktail sauce. Caneel's were well cooked with a good amount of conch, but skimpy on sauce, and the most expensive (naturally). Banana Deck's were OK, but again, slightly undercooked. Ultimately, Miss Lucy's fritters were our favorite again. I'll end with a photo of my favorite beach. It's not the most famous or the prettiest but I love it.

I've been on vacation the past couple of weeks so have been eating out a lot, but also sometimes cooking at the vacation house. The other night we did build your own soft tacos. Flank steak version Vegetarian version Last night I made grilled wahoo with some local greens and grilled bread

A couple more meals. Breakfast at Cruz Bay Landing. Blueberry-banana pancakes Cinnamon swirl pancakes Florentine benedict Alaska benedict A lunch at The Beach Bar. Crab wontons Burger Tuna Down Now Mahi tacos Mahi fish and chips Blackened grouper sandwich

Yesterday we had lunch at Waterfront Bistro. It was their last lunch before closing lunch service for the slow season, so they were out of a few things. Their lunch menu is mostly specialty burgers. Drinks Juicy Lucy Chicken pistachio goat cheese burger Mac and cheese burger My nephew's mac and cheese burger. He can't have the fries due to his allergy so they gave him extra mac and cheese. This plate was gone in less than five minutes and he claimed he was still hungry. Have I mentioned that he is 6'2" and a beanpole? He must have an extra stomach somewhere. Tuna tacos

Haha I know right? But it's Caneel Bay after all. :-) No, we are much further out from Hawksnest. The house is looking out over Francis Bay, which is two beaches further out than Cinnamon. I've never stayed on the East End. Coral Bay a few times, but East End is so far from everything... There is a campaign to sell Florida Lionfish for eating. My local (MA) Wegmans stocks it from time to time. The sell it whole, despined of course. It's a very mild, flaky white fish so I could see it becoming popular once people get more familiar with it.

Only the spines are venomous, so those are removed while wearing special gloves and then the fish can be eaten. And yes it is a sweet revenge. Lionfish are horrible. Beautiful to look at but they eat everything around them! Water Island. Last night was our final dinner out since we moved to a new, more remote location today. I don't like to drive in the dark and this house is at least 20 minutes from restaurants so it will be lunches out only for this week. More conch fritters :-) We went to La Tapa. Bread with various dipping sauces Charcruterie plate Cheese plate Caesar salad Mozzarella salad Pork belly Tuna Passion fruit cheesecake Bread pudding We had to be out of our old house by 9AM and could not get in to the new one until 3PM so we went to breakfast at High Tide. Coconut pancakes Egg sandwich Spinach mushroom and cheese omelet Then we went to the beach for a while And eventually ended up at Caneel Bay Resort for lunch. My nephew was so excited because he could eat the fries here. His crustacean allergy coupled with his love of fries can be a little challenging down here, but they cook all of the fish and shellfish in a separate kitchen here. Trio of dips with breads Conch fritters (naturally) My nephew's burger. It was Snake River Farms way. Not too shabby My brother's burger The rest of us had sushi. Tuna Island Crunchy roll Tuna niashi Caribbean roll Hmm...I forget what this was. It had tuna, yellowtail, jalepeno and avocado What do you eat for dinner after a day of eating like that? Cheese and crackers at the villa There are seven of us and I don't think we managed half of that plate. No restaurants tomorrow, we are grilling. Here's our view from the house.

Everything is made with the spiny Caribbean lobster. I've seen quite a few while snorkeling. Wednesday we had lunch at Mis Lucy's. Drinks Johnnycakes Conch fritters (of course!) Grouper reuben Quinoa-mango-coconut salad Crunch fish sandwich Burger Yesterday we hired a boat. Fruit in the morning cheese in the afternoon We stopped for lunch at a beach bar View Lionfish sandwich grilled lionfish mexibowl with beef chicken tenders and fries (yes, this was one of the teen's meals) Fried lionfish We ordered takeout pizza for dinner from Pizza Pi, which is a sailboat anchored in Christmas Cove. They deliver your pizza to your boat via dinghy. It was pretty good pizza. Plus pizza from a sailboat is cool. Pesto Pepperoni

Last night was one of our two planned fine dining experiences for this trip: Zozo's at the Sugar Mill. Antipasto Prosciutto-wrapped cambozola cheese Meatball Scallop Rockfeller Burrata and melon Bacon ravioli Lobster dumplings Wild mushroom paparadelle Pistachio crusted mahi mahi The best swordfish I have ever eaten-it was like butter Banana nut semifreddo Today battle conch fritter continues.

We are making it a point to order them at every restaurant that offers them. Battle conch fritter! We are currently waiting out a rainstorm so I thought I would post an update. Lunch at Shipwreck Landing Cocktails Conch fritters My nephew's burger. He can't have the fries here due to his crustacean allergy Blackened mahi quesadilla Key lime pie

I'm back on St. John for two weeks, so will continue to update this thread. lunch at High Tide. A blue drink, because why not? It's vacation conch fritters Nachos Taco salad Fish tacos fish and chips Breakfast at Jakes with my niece. Banana pancakes Tomato, onion, and mushroom omelet The bay we are staying on has wild peacocks. They are beautiful but very loud!

Sorry, I did not see this until now! Yes, that is what was in the pasta. I did not have it--it was my nephew's dish, so cannot comment on the flavor.

Meal #1 from this week's TB12 box. Summer ramen with coconut lime broth and sweet corn. Corn is cut from the cob. A broth is made from the cobs, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, ginger, a vegetable bouillon cube and water (I subbed in homemade chicken stock for the bouillon/water). Coconut milk, tamari and lime juice is added once the broth has simmered. Chunky aromatics are removed and chopped bok choy is added. (you are supposed to add tofu at this point but I am not supposed to eat tofu so I omitted it) Black rice ramen noodles are cooked. They sent 5 oz and I was feeding two adults plus a teen so I made the decision to also cook/prepare one sleeve of ramen noodles and a bunch of raw zoodles I made on my spiralizer. I followed the cooking instructions for the black rice ramen but they fell apart a bit. Not having made black rice ramen before I can't explain what went wrong. Finally, the corn cut off the cob is sautéed in coconut fat and agave and then added to the ramen bowl with cilantro and lime wedge garnish. I added duck eggs to everyone's dish to make up for the missing tofu protein.

Rigatoni with fresh tomatoes, eggplant, basil, and ricotta

The final TB12 meal for this week was Chickpea Street Tacos with Piri Piri Sauce and Charred Zucchini White lentils are cooked and mashed with salt, pepper, and cilantro. A piri piri sauce is made with shallot, garlic, fresno chile, lemon, red wine vinegar, smoked paprika and olive oil. The zucchini is sliced into planks and charred. Chickpeas are sautéed with half of the piri piri sauce. Tortillas are warmed and then topped with the lentil puree, zucchini, chickpeas, shredded cabbage, cilantro, and remaining piri piri sauce. Well, I decided I did not want lentils two days in a row, especially after being bored with them the night before. So instead I made a queso fundudo as a substitute. I don't think Tom Brady would approve, but we certainly enjoyed it.

Last night's Purple Carrot TB12 meal was pomegranate mujaddara with carmelized onions and herbed beet salad. The recipe calls for 8 ounces of beets, but the one included win my box as only four ounces. I was annoyed at first but it turned out to be enough for us. Lentils and jasmine rice are cooked in water with vegetable broth, then fluffed and set aside. Onions are sliced and carmelized in coconut spread (I added a little butter). Half are mixed into the lentils and the other half reserved for garnish. Beets are sliced and tossed with mint and parsley leaves and lemon juice. The lentils are plated and topped with the beet salad, pomegranate seeds, pomegranate molasses, and crispy onions. As you might imagine from the ingredient list, this was pretty bland. The beet salad was nice, but the lentils were awfully boring, despite the onions and salt/pepper. I checked my recipe in the Jerusalem cookbook this morning, and his recipe calls for lots of added spices that would have been welcome. By coincidence, I had made salmon to go with this, and made a spiced yogurt sauce to serve with that. I had ultimately set it aside as being too strong for the salmon, but we ended up mixing some it in to the lentils to add flavor. It helped a bit, but I would not make this again. Husband's dish My plate

I had a couple of disappointments in this week's Purple Carrot TB12 box. A plastic container of rotten cilantro in tonight's recipe for Thai style cauliflower with sticky rice. Oddly, the plastic container of cilantro in another menu's bag was perfectly fresh. I'm not bothering to complain this time as I have other cabbage and cilantro in the fridge. So, last night's recipe was Thai-style cauliflower with kaffir lime and sticky rice. You cook the rice (I used my rice cooker), rough chop the cauliflower and roast it at 450 until browned in spots, cool slightly and then chop again into bite size pieces. Meanwhile, chop up mint, cilantro, scallions, ginger, and Thai bird chile and combine in a big bowl. "Not fish" sauce (vegan worcestershire sauce) is combined with coconut sugar and juice of a lime (I swapped in real fish sauce for the worcestershire). You reheat the chopped cauliflower with half of the sauce in a skillet, then plate over the rice with sliced cucumber and romaine lettuce cups and top with chopped peanuts and the extra sauce on the side. You can eat it as a salad or as lettuce cups. I omitted the romaine as I want to use it in something I am making later this week, and added some grilled salmon. The cauliflower was fantastic, with lots of flavor. Overall we liked this a lot.

fish and chips, onion rings, and slaw

caprese bruschetta tuna Florentine-style

took a few days away from the computer. I'm home now, so here are the final photos from the trip. Another breakfast at the Fairway before heading to Coast Guard Beach, where we watched the excitement of a Great White Shark being spotted and tagged offshore. Blueberry pancakes (again!) Caprese omelet Garden benedict (tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms) Dinner at Blackfish, Drinks Bread Had to get the tuna bolognese again... Fried oysters Short ribs Banana pudding A lunch at Mac's Shack. Tuna poke Fish sandwch Fried oysters A dinner at Winslow's Tavern. Veal meatballs Lobster pasta Tuna pasta Ndjuja sausage pasta Chocolate mousse Apple galette And that concluded this visit. Not sure if we will get back to the Cape in August as we found the on-season traffic to be exhausting to deal with, but we are booked for 10 days in October, which will encompass Wellfleet's Oysterfest. Last year there were no oysters at the fest due to a salmonella outbreak. I am hoping for better luck this year. I will leave you with a photo of our final sunset

Even the 4th of July parade in Wellfleet has an undercurrent of food running through it These guys are shucking free oysters for paradegoers. You run up to the float to get one We attempted to go to the Beachcomber today but there was a two hour wait, so we ended up at the Pearl. Drinks Steamers Baked oysters Pesto caprese flatbread burger Fish tacos Fish sandwich Lobster roll 4th of July sunset

Pasta salad Sweetcorn with basil Marinated tomatoes Striped bass There was also porterhouse steak, Snake River Farms hot dogs, and a chili-lime butter for the fish

I finally got around to making the hummus that came in last week's Purple Carrot box. Because I am staying at a vacation house without a food processor, I had to make it in the blender, which necessitated adding more olive oil than the recipe called for. I did not make the amaranth crisps, and they forgot to include the flatbread, so I just served it as a dip with the included vegetables as an appetizer before dinner last night. Everyone enjoyed it.